The first trial was held on February 23 involving CMA CGM's 10,640-TEU vessel APL Paris. Ship-to-containership biofuel bunkering was conducted alongside simultaneous container loading and discharging operations before the vessel plies the Asia-South America rotation of the Pacific East Coast 2 service.

With this new global trial, the CMA CGM Group keeps moving forward to make shipping and logistics a more sustainable industry and reach its goal to go beyond carbon neutrality and become a Net Zero Carbon company by 2050.

The 6-month global trial will involve up to 32 containerships running on different blends of biofuel to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in order to obtain a trend analysis, which will be shared with the respective flag administration including MPA. Some of these vessels will be fuelled in Singapore with B24 biofuel, which comprises 24 per cent used cooking oil methyl ester (UCOME) in the advanced biofuel blended with conventional fuels.

Ranging from ship sizes between 2,200 and 10,640 TEU, these vessels on trial will serve several trade lanes including Asia-South America, Asia-Africa, Asia-Oceania, Asia-Mediterranean, North Europe-Oceania and North Europe-North America.

B24 biofuel can reduce carbon emissions by 21 per cent. Completely compatible with modern ship engines, this "drop-in" fuel option can be run on all vessel types without requiring technical, safety or design adjustments, enabling ships to quickly start limiting their emissions.

Made from used cooking oil collected from food manufacturers, F&B businesses and households, the conversion of waste cooking oil into biofuel for transportation promotes a circular economy, providing a new and environmentally beneficial use for consumed oil.

"This global biofuel trial and bunkering in Singapore advances CMA CGM's energy transition, paving the way for biofuel to scale up as one of the solutions to decarbonise shipping. With the use of biofuels being assessed over multiple key trade lanes and onboard ships of various sizes, we shall gather a comprehensive data set to verify the biofuel's performance as a marine fuel and gain insights into facilitating a wider adoption of biofuel as a clean fuel," said Stephane Courquin, CEO CMA CGM Asia Pacific.